Sainsbury’s and the Roald Dahl Story Company Return to The BFG for a Third Christmas Campaign.

Sainsbury’s and the Roald Dahl Story Company have partnered for a third consecutive Christmas campaign, once again built around The BFG.

This year’s advert expands the story world further, taking viewers into Giant Country. The BFG is feeling unwell and fears he may miss Christmas, so Sainsbury’s colleague Annie, returning from previous campaigns, sets out with her sidekick Fred to deliver a festive meal across Giant Country. Along the way they face obstacles including an enormous Squizzly Scotch-Hopper and the mischievous Greedy Giant, before reaching the BFG’s cave to share Christmas dinner.

Born Licensing continues to represent the Roald Dahl Story Company in its global partnership strategy, which uses advertising campaigns to bring its characters and story worlds to life, with creative storytelling at the centre of the approach. The campaign’s return for a third year points to the ability of the Roald Dahl IP to reach cross-generational audiences, and to the audience’s interest in engaging more deeply with these characters.

For Born Licensing, the partnership shows how entertainment IP can become a long-term part of a brand’s creative storytelling, building familiarity and emotional connection with audiences while continuing to introduce new narratives and characters.

For this year’s campaign, Born Licensing facilitated the creative collaboration between the licensor and New Commercial Arts (NCA), Sainsbury’s creative agency. Together, the teams drew more extensively on The BFG‘s lore, offering a view of the craggy, mystical Giant Country and some of its fantastical inhabitants.

The BFG’s cave, the return of the Greedy Giant and the introduction of the Squizzly Scotch-Hopper combine recognisable elements of Roald Dahl’s storytelling with an original adventure created for Sainsbury’s. The Roald Dahl Story Company, Born Licensing and NCA worked together to ensure the creative interpretation remained faithful to the characters, their personalities and the world of the original story.

David Born, CEO of Born Licensing:

Fictional characters are already one of the most effective tools in advertising, because audiences know and love them before a campaign even starts. When a brand features the same character year after year, it gets a compounding benefit, with each campaign building on the last. The BFG was already cherished by British families, and each Sainsbury’s campaign has taken the story further, this year right into Giant Country.

Alice O’Brien, Head of Global Commercial Partnerships at the Roald Dahl Story Company:

“We’re delighted to bring the BFG back for a third consecutive Christmas campaign. It has been fantastic to see him become such a much-loved part of the festive season for audiences. The Roald Dahl stories are so rich in imagination and detail, and this year it has been especially exciting to explore more of the craggy mystical Giant Country and bring a new chapter of the BFG’s world to screen in a way that feels authentic to the original story. It’s a testament to the enduring appeal of these characters that there is still such warmth and enthusiasm for seeing more of their world brought to life.”